Method of producing kinetographic films.



RENEWED JAN. 6, 1917- Patented Feb.13,1917.

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METHOD OF PRODUCING KINETOGRAPHlC FILMS.

APPLlCATION FILED JAN.17.1914. RENEWED JAN. 6, 191:.

1,21 6,026. Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

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W 7 M4}, ATTOR/Vfz Application filed January 17, 1914, Serial No. 812,796. Renewed January 6, 1917.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'HABTWELL w.. WEBB, or CRESSKILL, NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF PBODUCIN G KINETOGRAPHIC FILMS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARTWELL W. WEBB, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Cresskill, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Producing Kinetographic Films, of which the following is a specification.

'The present invention relates to an improvement in moving picture films and a method of producing the same. The invention pertains .more particularly to that type of films in which the pictures are arranged on an opaque band in sequence, that is to be used in connection with an apparatus in which a beam of light ispresented directly at the exposed area of the opaque band, the illu-' mined images of which are projected by means of direct reflected rays'of said beam of light onto a distant surface or screen. The use of a film of this type has been proposed heretofore, the same being produced fromnegativefilms photographically, necessitating a special photographic printing apparatus and a developing, fixingand washing of the film, thus giving a product which is by no means cheaper than the standard transparent film.

The main object of the present invention is to produce a moving picture film by printing the samemechanically by means of plates, or otherwise, so as to bring about a product that can be manufactured on a commercial scale.

Another object of the invention is to furnish a film of the character specified that carries pictures on both of its faces, said pictures being arranged in such a manner as to permit the said two sets of pictures to be exhibited or projected without the usual rewinding operation.

A further object of the invention isto produce a film band by the photographic process without the aid of negatives.

With these and other objects in view, which will more fully appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the combination, arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter fully described, pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it beingunderstood that many changes may be made in the size and proportion of the several parts and details of construction within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the Specification of Letters Patent.

-of pictures Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

Serial No. 141,055.

vention; Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof; ,Fig. 3 is a plan view of a'printed sheet of which the film is to be formed; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of said sheet, its transverse edges being fastened together to form a-continuous row of pictures on either face thereof; and F ig. 5 is a perspective viewof the film after being cut from the form shown in Fig. 4.

- Referring nowmore particularly to 1 and 2' of the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates a film band, 'made of any suitable opaquematerial that is strong enough to withstand wear and tear to which it is subjected by the feeding mechanism of the projecting machine. This band may be provided along its longitudinal edges with the usual perforations 11, which are adapted to be engaged by the sprocket wheels of the feeding mechanism of the projecting apparatus, although it will be easily seen that, inasmuch as the feeding mechanism of the projecting machine has no relation to the present invention, other means may be employed instead of the perforations 11 for the purpose stated. Upon the front face 12 of the film is disposed alongitudinal row which represent successive phases of motion, said' pictures being arranged upside down and in the order indic'atedby front face, that is to say-the first picture is located at the bottom of said face and the last one in the series at thetop thereof. Upon the rear face 13 of the film "is arranged another series of pictures, also representing successive phases of motion, these last named pictures being disposed in upright positions, the first picture in the series being at the top of said rear face and the last in the series at its bottom. From the foregoing it appears that the two series of pictures are disposed upside down relative to each other, and run in opposite directions.

In projecting the series of pictures on the front" face. of the film, the free end of the band is attached to the wind-up reel of the projecting machine, "and the latter operated in the usual manner. The series of pictures the numerals appearing on the said 7 on the front side having been exhibited, the

film is put again upon the supply-reel, its back surface brought in operative relation to the projecting lens of the apparatus, and its free end, that is to saynear to which picture No. 1 on its back face is disposed, then attached to the wind-up reel and the machine again operated-in the usual manner. From this it appears that no rewinding of the film is necessary in order to exhibit its two series of pictures, the time wasted in rewinding of the films heretofore known being used for showing a new series of pictures.

It is to be observed that, inasmuch as the pictures on the film are to be exhibited by direct reflected rays of light, the pictures must be mirror-images. Of course, if, besides the projecting lens a projecting mirror is arranged upon the projecting machine, the pictures need not be mirror images.

The film herein described can be produced by several processes, one of the same, and the commercially feasible, being the mechanical printing process.

For carrying out this process, first a photographic negative is produced in any suitable manner on a moving picture camera, said negative being then prepared in the usual way. This negative is, preferably, produced behind a half-tone screen which should, preferably, not be coarser than 175,

as this term is used in the photo-engraving trade. This screen may be inserted into the motion picture camera, or a positive film might be produced behind the screen from a negative that has been made in the usual manner. From the negative so produced printing plates are made in any preferred way, it being obvious that the several pictures appear on this plate in a manner that mirror-images will be printed therefrom, as above stated. On the plate the pictures are arranged in a plurality of longitudinal rows forming a plurality of consecutive units, the first picture of each unit representing the phase of motion following the one represented by the last picture of the preceding unit, as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. In printing the film, first a sheet, denoted in the drawings by the numeral 14, of a suitable size is provided with perforations 15, said perforations running longitudinally and being spaced apart in a manner presently to be described. On the left-hand side of the sheet there is only a single row of perforations, denoted by the numeral 16, and on the right-hand side a row of perforations, indicated at 17. Between these two rows there are disposed at intervals double rows 18 of perforations, the interval between two double rows corresponding to the width of an individual picture, that is to be printed. The sheet so imeme prepared is then printed with the plate above described, suitable registering devices being provided to insure proper alinement. Along the upper transverse edge I. of the front faceof the sheet is left a blank strip 19, a similar strip being provided along the lower transverse edge of the back face of the sheet, as indicated at 20. The sheet is printed upon its front-face with a given plate and upon its back face with another plate, the pictures on the plate for printing the back face being also arranged in consecutive units. The pictures on the two faces of the sheet do not fully coincide by reason of the blank strips 19 and 20 being disposed on opposite ends of the respective faces of the sheet.

The blank strips 19 and 20 of the sheet, or either of them, is then provided with a suitable adhesive and overlapped, the sheet being folded on a cylindrical surface so that the images of both faces of the sheet run in a helical line, on either face of the sheet the first picture of a unit registering with and following the last picture of the precedingunit. A tubular member is thus formed of the sheet, on both faces of which the series of pictures are thus brought into proper order. The sheet is then cut by any suitable means into a band, the severing being effected between the double rows of perforations, thereby producing a film of the character above described. If necessary, the sheet may be provided, after printing, between 'each double row of perforations with a line of slits 21. In doing so, the severing of the tubularsheet is greatly facilitated.

It has been found in practice preferable to use a non-hygroscopic flexible adhesive. A material of this character is the so-called mending tissue, a rubber-like material that is fused by heat. This material is placed between the overlapping edges of the sheet, and a hot-iron or similar contrivance run over it to fuse the said material in the well known manner.

In order to produce clear, well defined 5 pictures on the screen, the printing is done in such a manner that the shades of the pictures on the sheet are deepened to a greater degree than the lights, that is to say the pictures on the sheet appear unnaturally deep to the eye in the shades, but unchanged in lights. tVhen a film of this character is projected onto a screen, it will appear proportionate as to its chiaroscuro, inasmuch as the pictures are magnified manydiameters on the screen.

The advantages of the process herein described are obvious from the foregoing. It

must be pointed out, however, that, inasmuch as the film is printed in the form of a sheet, the tone of its pictures will be even throughout in contradistinction to the photographically printed films heretofore in erably, on both of its faces simultaneously.

This is done on a photographic film printing mechanism. Obviously an opaque film band which is sensitized on both of its faces must be used for this purpose, the printing being effected on both faces simultaneously, two negatives and a sensitized band being run through the printing machine. Two sources of lightmust be provided obviously in proper relation to said negatives. In Order to obtain mirror images of the pictures on the film, either reverse negatives are made use of, or

- the bare sides of the negatives must be put into contact with the opaque film band in printing.

Another way of producing opaque films by the photographic process consists in exposing an opaque sensitized film band in the ordinary manner in amoving picture camera, and thereby photographing successive phases of motion of the object. This film is developed, and then placed into reversing baths, by means of which mirrorimages of the object are produced on the film, that is to say the shades on the devel oped negative are turned into lights," and" the lights into black. This film is then ready for use on moving picture projecting apparatus working on the reflection principle. The nature of the reversing baths need not be described here, as it does not form part of the invention and is otherwise well known.

WVhat I claim is:

1. The herein described process of producing printed kinematographic films and the like which consists in, first, taking on a continuous strip a row of negative pictures representing successive phases of motion of an object, second, cutting this strip into sections and placing the latter side by side so that the first picture of each roW represents the phase of motion following the one represented by the last picture of the preceding row, third, producing from the negative so arranged a printing plate, fourth, making an impression from the said printing plate upon a sheet, fifth, folding the sheet into cylindrical form and joining the overlapping transverse edges in a manner that the pictures are caused to run in succession and in a helical line, and, finally, forming by a cut running in a helical line a band from said sheet.

2. The herein described process of producing printed kinematographic films and the like which consists in, first, taking on a continuous strip a row of negative pictures representing successive phases of motion of an object, second, cutting this strip into sections and placing the latter side by side so that the first picture of each row represents the phase of motion following the one represented by the last picture of the preceding row, third, producing from the negative so arranged a printing plate, fourth, making an impression from the said printing plate 'upon'a sheet, fifth, forming a line of slits between each two rows of pictures, sixth, folding the sheet into cylindrical form and joining the overlapping transverse edges in a manner that the pictures are caused to run in succession and in a helical line, and, finally, separating the sheet along the slits to form a band.

3. The herein described process of producing printed kinematographic films and the like which consists in, first, taking on a continuous strip a row of negatives representing successive phases of motion of an object, second, cutting this strip into sections and placing the latter side by side so that the first picture of eachrow represents the phase of motion following the one represented by the last picture of the "preceding row, third, producing from the negative so arranged a printing plate making mirror-image impressions of the phases of motion of the object, fourth, making an impression from the said printing plate upon a sheet, fifth, folding the sheet into a cylindrical form and joining its overlapa continuous strip a row of negatives representing successive phases of motion of an object, second, cutting this strip into sections and placing the latter side by side so that the first picture of each row represents the phase of motion followin the one re resented by the last picture 0% the prece ing row, third, producing from the negative so arranged a printing plate making mirrorimage impressions of the phases of motion of the object, fourth, making an impression from the said printing plate upon a sheet, fifth, forming a line of slits between each two rows of pictures, sixth, folding the sheet into a cylindrical, form and joining its overlapping transverse edges in a manner that the pictures are caused to run in succession and in a helical line, and, finally, separaiting the sheet along the slits to form a ban ducing printed kinematographic films and the like Which consists in, first, producing on a continuous strip a row of pictures representing successive phases of motion of an object, second, cutting this strip into sections and placing the latter side by side so that the first picture of each row represents the phase of motion following the one represented by the last picture of the preced ing row, third, producing from the sheet so obtained a printing plate, fourth, making an impression from the said printing plate upon a sheet, fifth, folding the lastnamed sheet into cylindrical form and joining the overlapping transverse edges in a manner that the pictures are caused to run in succession and in a helical line, and, finally, forming by a cut running in a helical line a band from said sheet.

6. lhe herein described process of producing printed kinematographic films and the like which consists in, first, producing on a continuous strip a row of pictures representing successive phases of motion of an object, second, cutting this strip into sections and placing the latter side by'side so that the first picture of each row represents the phase of motion following the one represented by the last picture of the preceding roW, third, producing from the sheet so obtained a printing plate, fourth, making an impression from the said printing plate upon a sheet, fifth, forming a line of slits between each two rows of pictures, sixth, folding the last-named sheet into cylindrical form and joining the overlapping transverse edges in a manner that the pictures are caused to run in succession and in a helical line, and, finally, separating the sheet along the slits to form a band.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 3rd daypf December, A. l). 1913.

HARTWELL Wf WEBB.

Witnesses:

SIGMUND Hnnzoe, S, lBIRNBAUM. 

